Eco-Friendly UV-Assisted Growth of Silver Nanoparticles on the Zirconium Metal–Organic Framework: 3D-Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Platform for Rhodamine 6G Sensing in Water

Owing to rapid response, nondestructiveness, and high sensitivity, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been extensively utilized in diverse applications. However, synthesizing an eco-friendly SERS substrate with a high surface area and sensitivity is still challenging in the myriad of SERS synthetic worlds. Herein, we fabricate Ag/NH2–UiO-66 and Ag/UiO-66 nanocomposites (NCs) via an environmentally friendly and hazardous chemical-free approach, i.e., UV-assisted synthesis (λ ∼ 352 nm) using UiO-66 or NH2–UiO-66 and AgNO3 as a stabilizing precursor for the synthesis of Ag. The morphological and structural characterizations were done using different spectroscopy tools. The SERS sensing capability of both substrates was compared using R6G in aqueous media. The Ag/UiO-66 NCs have lower detection capability compared to the amine-functionalized Ag/NH2–UiO-66, which showed excellent linearity over the range of 10–3 M to 10–8 M for R6G in water with a good enhancement factor of 3.1 × 105. The UV-assisted synthesis of SERS further encourages researchers to fabricate environmentally friendly 3D-SERS substrates for sensing diverse emerging contaminants to maintain environmental sustainability.